GPs earning over £150,000 in NHS income will now have to publish details

31 January 2019

All GPs, including GP locums, who earn more than £150,000 from the NHS next year will have to make their earnings public, according to the new GP contract.

GP pay revealed (Photo: iStock.com/Alphotographic)

Since 2014/15, practices have been obliged to calculate the mean total earnings of all relevant GPs and display the overall figure on the surgery website, including salaried GPs and locums who have worked in the practice for six months or more in the financial year.

The new requirement will single out GPs working in the practice whose total NHS earnings are over £150,000, starting with the financial year 2019/20. The change will also cover other other NHS contractors, for example pharmacists, undertaking work for the NHS.

GPC chair Dr Richard Vautrey told GPonline: 'This will work in a similar way to senior managers who have details of their income published at the moment. It applies to GPs and all other NHS contractors.

GP income

‘We were clear GPs can’t be singled out. It will work the same for pharmacists and others doing NHS work. It will be based on 2019/20 income, so will not be retrospective.'

According to NHS Digital, 10.6% of GPs in England earned more than £150,000 in 2016/17 but the figure includes both NHS and non-NHS income, so the number of GPs affected by the rule change will be lower.

The average income before tax for GP partners and salaried GPs in that year was £92,500. GP partners earned an average of £105,500.